Linux - DesktopThis forum is for the discussion of all Linux Software used in a desktop context.

Notices

Welcome to LinuxQuestions.org, a friendly and active Linux Community.

You are currently viewing LQ as a guest. By joining our community you will have the ability to post topics, receive our newsletter, use the advanced search, subscribe to threads and access many other special features. Registration is quick, simple and absolutely free. Join our community today!

Note that registered members see fewer ads, and ContentLink is completely disabled once you log in.

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us. If you need to reset your password, click here.

Having a problem logging in? Please visit this page to clear all LQ-related cookies.

Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I dual boot Linux (Fedora and LinuxMint) with Windows XP Professional on several machines at home. I have previously used Acronis TrueImage Home booted from a UBCD4WIN cd, to backup (either full or incremental), windows partitions and/or folders. It also allowed access to the archive image file to restore specific files and folders if required. This was very convenient and reliable. However it doesn't offer the same options for linux partitions or directories/folders.

Is there a single GUI based backup solution that will allow me to backup not only partitions, but also specific folders also with an incremental backup option for Linux AND XP? I am aware of (and sometimes use) linux boot cd's for partition imaging, dd command and partimage, but the latter does not allow for individual file restoration. But these solutions are not intuitive for me, and definitely unusable for other members of my household when compared to the better GUI offerings for Windows.

I know of rsync, although have never used it, but was hoping to get away from the command line if possible
(otherwise I become the sole system administrator in our house!). Also I wanted something equivalent
cross platform ie the same backup functions on BOTH platforms with a GUI and if possible open source.

My understanding is that Acronis will image a linux partition from the standalone boot version and can then extract individual files (maybe) from the full image. I was hoping for someing more granular than that in file selction for backup.

It's up to you but avoiding the command line cuts you off from a lot of really good tools and makes you dependent on things you might not always have access to. What if you have to log in under SSH to your machine from a remote location? If you learn command line you can accomplish anything you want.

Also, why pay money for apps that can break when you can use good, open-source apps with community support?

rsync is really nice and I use it to make hourly incremental backups of my system. If my main system fails I can bring up a mirror image Linux from a different drive.